


Riordanverse Fic Outtakes

by TheTimeTraveler24



Series: Quarantine Works [8]
Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 14,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25112131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTimeTraveler24/pseuds/TheTimeTraveler24
Summary: Part of the writing process is rewriting certain scenes. I've made a compilation of certain things I've rewritten in my various fics.Works from:When They Came:Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4Always Towards the Sun:Chapters 5, 6, 7, 8The Sum of Our Choices series:Chapters 9, 10, 11Each chapter will have its own summary as well as listing the fic and place in the fic it belongs to.If you want to see a certain scene from my stories rewritten, let me know. I love a good "what if".
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Cecil Markowitz & Will Solace, Clarisse La Rue/Chris Rodriguez, Connor Stoll & Travis Stoll, Hazel Levesque/Frank Zhang, Jason Grace & Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Lou Ellen Blackstone & Cecil Markowitz, Lou Ellen Blackstone & Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Lou Ellen Blackstone & Will Solace, Magnus Chase & Alex Fierro, Magnus Chase/Alex Fierro, Nico di Angelo & Cecil Markowitz, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Silena Beauregard/Charles Beckendorf
Series: Quarantine Works [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711975
Comments: 24
Kudos: 88





	1. Nico and Will Have a Chat - When They Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 48: Psychology (Piper XLVIII).
> 
> In this scenario, Nico and Will did not get separated during their joint shadow travel of the Athena Parthenos. Will has been awake longer than Nico at this point. Nico is just waking up. The italics in the beginning is taken from the actual chapter since I do not have the original writing for that scene, but what Piper and Will talk about is close enough to what I remember having.

_“You cannot snap at us just because you’re missing Nico,” Piper said, crossing her arms. “It doesn’t help anyone, and in case you haven’t noticed, the rest of us miss him too. He’s Hazel’s brother for the gods’ sake!”_

_Will’s expression crumpled. “I… sorry.”_

_Piper sighed. “I get it, okay? I would probably be as snappy as you if this happened to Jason. But it’s not just that, right? What else is it?”_

_Will sighed. “I guess I should have known you’d pick up on it.” He stabbed a strawberry slice. “You cannot tell anyone because I don’t even know if I have this right.” He paused. “When I touched Nico’s hand when we did that whole Hades and Apollo powers combine or whatever the first time, I could feel a lot of pain. Emotional pain. I just assumed it was because Percy and Annabeth decided to just hang out in Tartarus forever without asking us, but then when we transported Reyna, Coach Hedge, and the statue to Camp, I felt the same pain, but it was way stronger. It was like he was focusing all the pain he’s ever felt into the shadows.” Will looked down at his plate. “Nico always says he’s fine, and everyone believes him, but I could feel that emotional pain he’s hiding. I’m scared that he’ll let go and let the shadows take him. I… all that pain was overwhelming, Piper. But he’s never said anything to me before.” He shook his head. “I don’t understand. I’m his friend and his doctor! I could help him!”_

_Piper bit her lip. “Maybe that’s the problem, Will. He doesn’t want a doctor to analyze him. He just needs a friend who can listen.” She hesitated. “When we get him back, and we will get him back, you should talk to him. Because you’re right. You are his friend. Probably his closest friend. You might have attributed the change in Nico to him being from the future and having that close relationship with Percy and Annabeth because they’re from the future too, but I would say that the Will from the future that Nico was friends with is the one who made that change happen.”_

_So far, Piper thought she was doing pretty good with this whole listening and giving advice thing. Maybe it came with the territory of being the daughter of the goddess of love, or maybe it was just because she was good at it. Either way, Will seemed to be more relaxed and less irritable._

* * *

Nico cleared his throat. “Hi. You, uh, doing good after the shadow travel thing?” he asked awkwardly.

“Oh!” Will jumped. “Yeah, yeah, I’m good.” He took a deep breath. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about. When… when you grabbed my hand the first time, I could feel, well, I could feel a lot of pain. I thought it was just because you thought Percy and Annabeth were going to be stuck in Tartarus forever, but then when we transported the statue, I could feel the pain again.” He looked at Nico. “It was a lot worse though. So… so I wanted you to know that whatever it is that caused you all that pain, you can talk to me about it because I’m your friend and I hate to see you hurting.”

Nico stared at Will for a while. Will had never really gotten why everyone was so intimidated by Nico, but he had to admit, after a few moments of Nico staring at him like this, even he was getting a little unnerved.

“Nico?”

The son of Hades shook himself. “Sorry. Yes, Will?”

“You know you can talk to me as friends, right?” Will asked. “I’m not just a doctor.”

Nico snorted. “You aren’t actually a doctor, you know.”

“I will be one day,” Will assured him. “But I passed the Camp’s medical qualifications test on my first try. When I was ten.”

Nico ducked his head. “Believe me, I know,” he mumbled. “Never let me forget it.” He looked back up. “About the… pain. The second time we did that shadow travel thing, I pulled everything painful in my past. I wasn’t sure if I could do a repeat of what I did to get Percy and Annabeth out of Tartarus. That was definitely raw emotional pain, so I tried to go for the same effect the second time. My life hasn’t been easy. The curse of being a child of Hades. None of us ever have a good life.” He shrugged. “So I’m sorry if my pain hurt you. I just… I couldn’t risk messing it up with the statue.”

Will stared at him for a full minute. “You’re  _ sorry _ ?” he gasped. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Nico! I just want you to talk to me. Talking helps get rid of the pain, you know? And I’m a good listener, and I swear I’d never tell anyone if you didn’t want me to say anything. And-”

“I get it, Will,” Nico interrupted. “And I’m grateful, really, but I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t need to worry about all my problems,” Nico rolled his eyes. “Besides, most of what I drew from… I’ve long since gotten over them. The war kinda put things in perspective, you know?”

“But it still hurts you,” Will pointed out. “Just because something worse happened, doesn’t mean that pain is any less. And I’m going to worry more the longer you keep things bottled up, Nico, because I am your friend and that is what friends do. The good ones anyway.” He crossed his arms. “So you need a better argument than that to change my mind.”

Nico looked surprisingly emotional. He seemed to be looking at Will in shock and surprise.

“Please let me help you,” Will begged.

“Okay,” Nico said quietly. “I guess I should start from the beginning. Um, my sister Bianca, I don’t know if you remember her. She joined the Hunters of Artemis. She went with Thalia, Zoe, and Grover on that quest to find Artemis.”

“Kind of,” Will said, frowning. “I remember you of course, but I saw you around Camp a lot and whenever I hung out with Cecil. I think I played Mythomagic with you once.”

Nico nodded. “Well, the night before they left, I was spying on them, hoping I could talk to her and make her change her mind about going. Percy found me, and he said he was sneaking out. I… I didn’t really take the whole thing too seriously. I mean, it was like Mythomagic had come to life, and I was really excited.” He flushed a light pink. “Uh, anyway, I made Percy promise to protect Bianca on the quest.”

Oh.  _ Oh. _ Will knew Nico’s sister died, but he did  _ not _ know that Nico had asked Percy to keep Bianca safe. That was definitely a dangerous promise, and he was surprised Percy even agreed to it. Percy would have been fourteen. By then he should have known better.

“I know  _ now _ that Percy did his best,” Nico continued, “but when he got back and told me what happened, I… I lost it. He was supposed to be this perfect hero that I had built in my head. A cool older guy, the powerful son of Poseidon. Everyone at Camp talked about him like he was practically a god himself, and I was so angry that the perfect hero couldn’t keep my sister safe.” He was quiet. “I carried that around for a while. Hazel helped. I told her about Bianca. And, you know, I try to make sure she doesn’t feel like Bianca’s replacement.” A small smile graced his lips. “I think I spent a long time trying to decide how I felt about Percy. I guess he’s not so bad, but he’s definitely not the perfect hero I wanted him to be.”

“Well, he is only human,” Will said. “Only half human. Part god. Demigod who was actually offered immortality, but turned it down for Annabeth.”

Nico’s smile turned bitter. “Yep.” He shook his head. “For a long time, I was jealous of… them. What they had together. I never thought anyone would even really like me enough to be friends. Obviously I was wrong,” he said, shooting Will a grateful look.

Will laughed. “Uh, the way I remember it, you just started hanging out with me. I was still trying to figure out how to approach you. I mean, you were the cool kid that convinced Hades to fight for Olympus and I was just a medic.”

“You were the medic that risked his life to save other people’s lives,” Nico corrected. “I was the creepy death kid.”

Will opened his mouth to argue, but Nico kept talking.

“The first time I was in that jar, I was in there a lot longer,” Nico explained. “And I didn’t think anyone was coming for me. Even this time knowing the Seven were supposed to rescue me, I was doubting it. Will, just being in this timeline sucks. I’m all for changing the future. Really, I am. But I lost a lot by coming back. It wasn’t great, pretty much all the Earth was destroyed and there were only a small number of survivors, but losses aside, I was happy. I had a good four months after we won. Then suddenly I was back here, and everything I had was gone.”

“You can get it back,” Will pointed out. “I mean, you befriended me, right? That happened earlier than it did for you the first time.”

Nico gave him a dry look. “Not everything works that way you know.”

“Well,” Will began, but trailed off. He was terrible at this. Why wasn’t Piper talking with Nico? Oh right. Because he was worried about his friend. “Well, you know, if we win and survive this war, you can always go with your whole confess your undying love plan. I don’t think anyone would turn you down. You could try to get your… your girlfriend back.”

Nico’s eyes squeezed shut. He was tensed up. So apparently that was the wrong thing to say to a time traveler.

“Yeah, whatever.”

He got up and walked to the door. He opened it and Jason and Percy fell flat forward.

“Were you eavesdropping on us?” Will asked in shock.

Jason and Percy had the decency to look embarrassed.

Nico muttered something under his breath. It definitely sounded Italian, but Will was pretty sure he didn’t need a translation to imagine what Nico said.

“It was Jason’s idea,” Percy said quickly.

Jason’s mouth dropped open. “No it wasn’t! Percy said-” he was cut off as Percy clamped a hand over Jason’s mouth.

“You’re lucky we’re on a ship in the middle of a body of water otherwise there would be skeletons crawling out of the ground faster than you can fly or swim,” Nico hissed. He stiffened. “Wait. You  _ told _ Jason?”

Percy’s eyes widened. “No! He asked me. I’m not that dumb, Nico. Seaweed  _ Brain _ . Emphasis on the brain part. It means I still have a brain.”

“I don’t think that’s what that means,” Nico mumbled.

Will privately agreed.


	2. Mythomagic and Hades Doesn't Like Percy - When They Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 50: Now What (Annabeth L).
> 
> Still in the scenario where Nico didn't get separated during the shadow travel experience. The italics are words taken from the actual chapter. Everything in normal text is the outtake. The strikethrough text is from the actual chapter to give you an idea of what actually changed.

_Apparently Leo’s definition of a nice fire was different than Annabeth’s. It wasn’t anything crazy since Leo didn’t want to risk burning down his precious ship, but it definitely was not what Annabeth had in mind._

_Leo had gotten a large metal trash can and put pretty much every unneeded flammable object inside, lit his hands on fire, and placed his hands into the can until a fire was roaring._

_Annabeth was kinda hoping it would have been a small, peaceful fire._

_“Now what?” Will asked._

_“We are family,” Percy tried to sing. “Something something something with me.”_

_Will grimaced. “Gods that was worse than me.”_

_“You can’t sing?” Frank asked Will in surprise. “Aren’t you an Apollo kid?”_

_Will scowled. “Just because I’m Apollo’s son, doesn’t mean I can do everything he can.”_

_“Just because Apollo’s the god of something doesn’t mean he or his kids are actually good at it,” Percy added. “Like, have you heard Apollo’s haikus? My ears are bleeding just thinking about them.”_

_“When did you meet Apollo?” Jason asked in confusion._

_“When your sister crashed the sun chariot into the lake at Camp Half-Blood,” Percy answered. “Apollo let her drive.” He had a fond look. “We just retrieved little baby Nico actually. He was all like ‘Woah! Apollo! He has six hundred attack!’ Or something like that.”_

“Plus 30 health and 2000 defense,” Nico corrected. His face went red.

Annabeth snickered. “I thought you didn’t play anymore,” she teased.

“I don’t!” Nico protested. “But I spent like seventy years playing games and memorizing the stats! Of course I still know them.”

~~_“Plus 30 health and 2000 defense,” Frank corrected. His face went red. “I played Mythomagic before.”_ ~~

_“What’s it like?” Hazel asked quietly, changing the attention from her_ brother _~~boyfriend~~ to her. “In the future. I mean, I know most of us are, uh, not around anymore, but I’d like to hear about the good stuff.”_

_“Our first month after the war ended was spent in the Underworld,” Percy said cheerfully. “Nico roped us into helping out.”_

_Annabeth lightly shoved his shoulder. “Liar. Nico asked if we could help him keep his sanity.” She turned to the rest of the group. “Almost the whole world was kinda, um, dead, so the Underworld was a mess. Will, Percy, and I helped out.”_

_Percy snorted. “Haha, remember how Charon kept bringing up the time Annabeth, Grover, and I drowned in a bathtub.”_

_“You drowned in a bathtub?” Hazel asked in confusion._

_“Why were all three of you in a bathtub?” Frank frowned._

_Annabeth shared a look with Percy. “It was a big bathtub,” they said together._

_"Anyways, we were twelve and I needed to demand Hades give me back my mom,” Percy continued. “That was the only thing I could come up with on the spot.” He grimaced._

“You guys could have stayed in the Underworld, you know,” Nico muttered. “Then you wouldn’t have had to deal with that.”

“I think your dad might have killed me,” Percy said, shaking his head. “He told me he would if I spent a single second more than I had to in the Underworld. What did I do to deserve that?”

Nico’s face went bright red. “He didn’t like  _ you _ . I mean, you know. The whole…” he trailed off.

Percy burst out laughing. “Oh man! Is that it? He just didn’t approve of me? Dude, I thought he just didn’t like that I was the son of Poseidon, or like some leftover resentment from when he thought I stole his Helm.” Percy grinned. “Good to know.”

“Shut up,” Nico mumbled. “It’s not just you, you know. My dad hates all my friends.”

“Especially Will,” Percy agreed. “Cause he’s the son of Apollo.” His face lit up. “Jason? Did Thalia ever tell you about the time we met Apollo?”

_“She crashed the chariot?” Jason asked uncertainly. “You just told me that.”_

_Percy waved it off. “No, no. Not that. And it was more like the sun bus.” He smiled. “This was before she joined the Hunters of course. She was totally into Apollo. Said he was ‘hot,’” Percy said with finger quotes._

_Thalia? Apollo? Annabeth snorted._

_Jason’s face was priceless. “My sister had a crush on Apollo?”_

_“Ew, gods, no,” Will grumbled. “I know Thalia. Ugh, if my dad goes anywhere near her I don’t think I could ever look at either of them again. Can we talk about something else?”_

_“How about the time Jason ate a stapler,” Piper said slyly._

_“Low blow,” Jason scowled._

_Frank and Hazel were laughing. “I haven’t heard this before,” Hazel said through tears of laughter. “When was that?”_

_“I was a baby, okay?” Jason defended himself._

_“You were two according to Thalia,” Leo grinned._

_“Can we talk about other people’s embarrassing baby moments?” Jason complained._

_Annabeth’s shoulder shook. “Oh, but we’re having so much fun talking about the stapler. What’s a little embarrassment between family?”_

_The fire flared, and Annabeth jumped to her feet. A quick glance around told her the others had too._

_“Family,” a voice said from behind her._

_Annabeth spun around._

_Bathed in light from the fire was a young girl. She appeared to be a young teenager. Her brown hair swirled around her face in the wind, and her eyes reflected the warm fire._

_“Lady Hestia,” Percy said, bowing._

_Hestia smiled. “Hello, children.”_


	3. What's Kansas? - When They Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 52: Little Slice of Victory (Leo LII).
> 
> Another one where Nico remained on the Argo II. Basically just a little clip of him interjecting about Kansas.

_“What’s up, guys?”_ _He_ [Leo] _strolled into the mess hall. “Aw, yes to brownies!”_

_He grabbed the last one – from a special sea-salt recipe they’d picked up from Aphros the fish centaur at the bottom of the Atlantic._

_“So…” Jason said as he leaned forward. “We’re going to stay airborne and drop anchor as close as we can to Olympia. It’s further inland than I’d like – about five miles – but we don’t have much choice. We have to find the goddess of victory and, um… subdue her.”_

_“How do we subdue victory?” Piper wondered._

_“Oh, Leo trapped her in a net last time,” Percy said offhandedly._

_Leo sputtered. “And you didn’t think that would have been helpful to know before hand?”_

_Percy shrugged. “Eh. I mean, you managed last time.”_

_“I hate time travelers,” Leo mumbled. “So what do we do? Same thing we did before? Uh, what was that exactly?”_

_“Landing party of four,” Annabeth answered. “Two Greeks, two Romans. Percy, Leo, Hazel, and Frank. Maybe we should change it, I’m not sure. We just have to be careful about who goes. Piper can’t go. Daughter of Aphrodite, she’s a threat to Nike. Obviously Jason and Percy can’t go together. Jupiter and Poseidon are a bad combination.”_

“Ugh, we don’t want another Kansas,” Percy grumbled. “I might kill my bro Jason.”

“Or I might kill my bro Percy,” Jason said. He frowned. “What’s Kansas?”

Nico smirked. “I think Percy would definitely win.”

“Aww, thanks, Nico!” Percy gushed. “Even though I’m not-”

“I take it back. Jason, feel free to kill Percy.”

_“Anyway,” Annabeth interrupted with a glare. “Frank and I can’t go together because that would be Mars and Athena. Another bad combination. Will could probably go with anyone. Apollo doesn’t have rivalries with anyone except Artemis.”_

_“Will and I would be a bad combo,” Percy said. “Will and I cannot go together.”_

_Will gave Percy a weird look. “I don’t have any problems with you, Percy.”_

_Annabeth nodded, ignoring Will. “Yeah, that could be bad potentially. Nevermind. Let’s do what we did last time. It worked out well enough.”_

_Leo clasped his hands. “Okay. Well, it’s July 22 already, so ten more days until Gaea wakes. Let’s get this show on the road. Gotta catch a goddess. Should be impossible, so let’s do it!” Leo started to grin. He couldn’t help it. Sure, they only had ten days to stop the giants from waking Gaia. Sure, he could die before dinnertime. But he loved being told that something was impossible. It was like someone handing him a lemon meringue pie and telling him not to throw it. He just couldn’t resist the challenge._

_“We’ll see about that.” He rose to his feet. “Let me get my collection of grenades and I’ll meet you guys on deck!”_


	4. Love Advice - When They Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place somewhere between Chapter 48: Psychology (Piper XLVIII) and Chapter 52: Little Slice of Victory (Leo LII).
> 
> Again. Nico didn't get separated from the Argo II and Will. So now he and Piper sit down for a little chat.

“Can I talk to you?”

Nico winced. “Piper. Uh, look, I don’t-”

Piper rolled her eyes and pulled Nico into her cabin. It was surprisingly nice for the room of a daughter of Aphrodite. “You like Will,” she said.

“Is it the daughter of Aphrodite thing or is it just plain obvious?” Nico asked, feeling his face heat up. “Or did Jason or Percy tell you?”

Piper gave him a small smile. “Daughter of Aphrodite thing. So? What’s holding you back? I mean, I’m assuming he’s the person you were dating before, right?”

She was smarter than they gave her credit for apparently. Although, it might have been obvious to anyone who looked, Nico supposed. He did worry about Will’s being here, and they had struck up a rather random friendship.

“Mostly just my own past,” Nico admitted. “Percy asked me earlier too. It’s just… no one was really left to care about who liked who or who was dating who. Those of us that were alive… we had more important things to worry about. You know I was born in the 1930s in Italy. World War Two was years away from starting, and… people like… me were killed. Plus, our… relationship wasn’t exactly built on the friendship we have now.” Oh gods. Now he was sounding like a lovesick idiot. Which of course he was, but there was no way he wanted anyone to think of him like that.

“What was it built on?” Piper questioned. “You can talk to me, Nico.”

Nico sighed. “The day of the final battle the Apollo kids stayed behind on Olympus. They were supposed to heal anyone Apollo or any of the gods really transported back to Olympus. None of us for a second thought that Gaea would waste any of her army on Olympus when she knew we were all fighting her elsewhere.” He swallowed. “Once Gaea was defeated, no one really knew what to do. We tried to call Apollo and let him know there were a few injured. He… he never showed up. I knew something was wrong. I can feel deaths as a child of Hades, but I blocked it out during the battle so I couldn’t get distracted. There was so much death radiating from Olympus. I panicked and shadow traveled straight there. All that destruction… I knew what had happened. I thought Will was dead. When I found him alive… I lost it. I… I kissed him and everything just came pouring out. Before then we were just friends. He healed me when my shadow travel overworked me, and we hung out, but nothing like now. We’re a lot closer now.”

“Sounds like you’re just afraid of how he’ll react,” Piper hummed. “Which you shouldn't be. It’s pretty obvious how much you two care about each other. I’m going to tell you a story.”

“Story time? What are we five?”

Piper shoved him. “It’s a Cherokee story, and it’s meant to teach a lesson.”

“Great.”

“These two Cherokee hunters were out in the woods. Each of them was under a taboo. Basically something they weren’t allowed to do,” Piper explained. “So one of the hunters,” she continued, “he wasn’t supposed to eat deer meat. The other guy wasn’t supposed to eat squirrel meat.”

“Why?” Nico asked in confusion.

“Hey, I don’t know. Some Cherokee taboos were permanent no-no’s, like killing eagles. That was bad luck for almost everybody. But sometimes, individual Cherokee took on temporary taboos – maybe to cleanse their spirit, or because they knew, from listening to the spirit world or whatever, that the taboo was important. They went with their instincts.”

“Okay,” Nico said unsurely. “So back to these two hunters.”

“They were out hunting in the woods all day. The only things they caught were squirrels. At night they made camp, and the guy who could eat squirrel meat started cooking it over the fire.”

“Yum.”

“Another reason I’m a vegetarian. Anyway, the second hunter, who wasn’t allowed squirrel meat – he was starving. He just sat there clutching his stomach while his friend ate. Finally the first hunter started feeling guilty. ‘Ah, go ahead,’ he said. ‘Eat some.’ But the second hunter resisted. ‘It’s taboo for me. I’ll get in serious trouble. I’ll probably turn into a snake or something.’ The first hunter laughed. ‘Where did you get that crazy idea? Nothing will happen to you. You can go back to avoiding squirrel meat tomorrow.’ The second hunter knew he shouldn’t, but he ate.”

“Let me guess. He turned into a snake,” Nico asked flatly.

“Wow, story time does not impress you at all,” Piper said, shaking her head. “But yeah. In the middle of the night, the second hunter woke up screaming in pain. The first hunter ran over to see what was wrong. He threw off his friend’s covers and saw that his friend’s legs had fused together in a leathery tail. As he watched, snakeskin crept up his friend’s body. The poor hunter wept and apologized to the spirits and cried in fear, but there was nothing to be done. The first hunter stayed by his side and tried to comfort him until the unfortunate guy fully transformed into a giant snake and slithered away. The end.”

Nico sat up straighter. “I like the ending. Are all Cherokee stories as happy as this?”

Piper frowned. “The point of me telling you this is the moral, not the ending.”

“What moral was I supposed to get from that?” Nico asked incredulously. “Don’t eat squirrel meat?”

She laughed. “No. The point is, trust your instincts. Squirrel meat might be just fine for one person, but taboo for another. The second hunter knew he had a serpent spirit inside him, waiting to take over. He knew he shouldn’t feed that bad spirit by eating squirrel meat, but he did it anyway.”

“Still getting the message to not eat squirrels.”

“My point,’ Piper said, shaking her head, “is that you, Nico di Angelo, are very familiar with your own bad spirits. Now you need to stop feeding them. The longer you sit around thinking Will could never like you back, the more you’re going to believe it. So stop thinking like that. If you’re worried about the crew, well, our parents have had their fair share of both male  _ and _ female lovers. But I don’t think you have anything to worry about from anyone. Hazel might be a little confused, but you probably understand the transition from decade to decade better than me.”

Nico managed a grin. “True.”

There was a knock on the door. Leo leaned inside.

“Woah, Piper. Sneaking around with Nico are we?”

Piper scoffed. “Shut up, Leo. Nico and I were just talking about stuff. What do you want?”

“Looking for Jason,” Leo answered. “Got some obnoxious venti trying to destroy the ship.”

“He and Percy said something about a bro fight?” Piper said, frowning. “I think they might be in Percy and Annabeth’s room playing video games or in the stables sparring. Not sure what they meant by bro fight.”

“They better not be sparring on  _ my _ ship,” Leo muttered as he left.

Nico looked at Piper. “Thanks,” he said honestly, “for the advice.”

“You going to follow through?”

“I think so,” Nico nodded. “Eventually. Just… let me think about it.”

“Don’t think too hard,” Piper said pointedly. “Promise me that?”

Nico looked off to the side wryly. “I don’t make promises these days. Thanks, Piper.”

As he left Piper’s cabin, he couldn’t help but smile at seeing her so happy and cheerful. She was actually a great listener and advice giver.

“Things are going to be different,” he muttered under his breath.


	5. Alice Alive After the Battle - Always Towards the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 30: Back at Camp.
> 
> As you can see by the title, this is when I wrote Alice to live through the Battle of Manhattan. This is Will finally seeing her again after not seeing her since Olympus.

_Stretchers were used to carry some of the more grievously injured to the infirmary. Will and his siblings were already at the infirmary waiting for the injured campers to arrive._

“So much for taking care of yourself,” Will said when Alice was dragged in looking pale. “Let me guess, a poisonous, but not deadly, arrow?”

Alice gave Will a glare, but she groaned as she was moved onto a bed. “Shut up. I thought I could handle it. Apparently not. Sue me.”

Will rolled his eyes as he poured a bit of nectar over the wound. “What? You thought Advil and Tylenol could cure this?”

“I just needed the pain to go away so I could focus on making the healing hymns work,” Alice protested weakly.

“Nevermind the fact that you could have overdosed by taking two painkillers at the same time,” Will scowled. “Does anyone but me care about simple health safety?”

“I care,” Alice shrugged. “Just not when it comes to the middle of a battle. No time to be careful. Careful could cost you a valuable second you can’t afford to lose.”

“In the middle of a battle is exactly the time to be careful!” Will said exasperatedly.

“Stop arguing and heal her already, Will,” Kayla called from a few beds down where she was checking on Pollux’s broken arm.

_ Once Will and his siblings had gotten the injured campers and Hunters mostly healed, he went down to the amphitheater where the dead lay wrapped in their shrouds. Four golden shrouds. He knew which of his siblings needed a shroud. Only two bodies could be wrapped. Two bodies were missing. _

* * *

_Before dinner, everyone gathered at the campfire to give the dead the proper funeral rites. This was of course led by Nico who had rolled his eyes and dragged himself to the front complaining that they were doing a good job of butchering the rites._

_Dinner at the pavilion was low-key. The only highlight was Juniper the tree nymph, who screamed, "Grover!" and gave her boyfriend a flying tackle hug, making everybody cheer. They went down to the beach to take a moonlit walk._

_Mrs. O'Leary romped around happily, eating everybody's table scraps. Nico sat at the main table with Chiron and Mr. D, and nobody seemed to think this was out of place. Everybody was patting Nico on the back, complimenting him on his fighting. Will almost went up to him, but he figured the kid had been getting enough of the same compliment to last a lifetime._

“Sorry for shoving this on you,” Alice said from her spot next to Will. She had been ordered by Will not to sing or do much else besides walking and eating until her wound healed completely.

Will glanced over at her. “Huh?”

“Head counselor,” Alice explained. She looked down. “It’s my last few months. I’ll be heading out into the real world to go to college soon.” She frowned. “Few days actually. Move in day is Friday. If I was here a few more years… I guess I would have taken the job.” She patted his shoulder. “But I think you’ll be a great head counselor.”

“I don’t want to be head counselor though,” Will said quietly. “I want Michael to do it. No, I want Lee to be head again. I wish none of this had ever happened.”

“Me too,” Alice agreed, “but it did happen and now all we can do is keep moving forward. Honestly, Michael and Lee are probably in Elysium right now having one of their stupid archery contests.”

Will snorted. “I don’t know why they ever bothered. Who can hit the most bullseyes in a row? It’s not like either of them could shoot anything other than a bullseye.” He smiled wistfully. “I bet you’re right though. Sounds like something they’d do even when they’re dead.”

"Of course I’m right,” Alice laughed. She looked Will in the eyes. “You’re going to be great, okay? You’ve got the rest of our siblings to help you when you need it, but trust me. You are going to do just fine on your own. You’re a leader, Will. Even if you don’t see it, I do. Our siblings do. Why else would we have elected you to lead?”

_Will started when he realized his siblings were waiting for him to lead them to the campfire for the sing-along. He winced and decided to delegate the actual task of leading the sing-along to Kayla._

_“Hey!” Travis suddenly shouted. “Where’s Percy and Annabeth?”_

_Clarisse got a really feral looking grin. “Oh I bet I know. Why do you think Prissy turned down immortality?” She got up and headed back towards the pavilion with the rest of the campers in tow._

_“...never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth was saying. “Get used to it.” Then she kissed him._

_“Well, it’s about time!” Clarisse interrupted them. They sprang apart._

_"Oh, come on!" Percy complained. "Is there no privacy?"_

_"The lovebirds need to cool off!" Clarisse said with glee._

_"The canoe lake!" Connor said eagerly._

_With a huge cheer, they carried Percy and Annabeth down the hill to the lake. They tossed the new couple into the water with a cheer. When the couple didn’t come up, the cheerful atmosphere faded._

_“Oh my gods we killed them!” someone shouted._

_Will smacked his forehead. “Percy can breath underwater,” he reminded them. “Plus he can control water. I doubt he’d let Annabeth drown. He’s probably got a little air bubble under there.”_

_“Cheater!” Thalia shouted at the water. But she was laughing._


	6. Finding Out Nico is From the 1930s - Always Towards the Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 51: The Trip to Camp Jupiter.
> 
> Nico says that he was born before Harry Potter was published, but it takes everyone a while to figure out what exactly he means by that.
> 
> Text in italics is from the actual chapter. Normal text is the new stuff.

_After lunch on the 16th, the campers all piled into three buses._

_Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Nico, Kayla, Austin, Cecil, Lou Ellen, Clarisse, Chris, Travis and Connor were in the same bus as Will. Percy and Annabeth sat in the row in front of Jason and Piper. Travis and Connor sat across the aisle from Percy and Annabeth with Clarisse and Chris behind them. Nico and Will sat in the row behind Jason and Piper. Across the aisle from them was Kayla and Austin with Cecil behind them and Lou Ellen behind Will and Nico._

_“If our bus is the only one to get attacked on the way to the Roman camp, I’m blaming you, Prissy,” Clarisse said._

_Percy looked mildly offended. “Jason and Nico are Big Three too!” he protested._

_“Yeah, but you’re the danger magnet,” Clarisse pointed out._

_The Hephaestus campers had lined the walls of the buses with Celestial bronze like they had done when building the Argo II, but it wasn’t foolproof. The demigod scent could still attract monsters even though it had been heavily diluted. It probably didn’t help that all three of the Big Three kids were on the same bus, but Jason insisted Nico be on the same bus as him and Percy and Jason were inseparable._

_To Lou Ellen’s utter delight, the bus had a DVD player and built-in TVs._

_“Nico hasn’t seen Harry Potter,” she announced as she put in the disc for The Sorcerer’s Stone . “So we’re watching all eight movies.”_

_Chris looked at Nico in surprise. “Wait, seriously? My mom made me watch them when I was like eight.”_

_Nico sighed. “They weren’t… available while I was growing up,” he said._

_Percy snorted. “Understatement.”_

_A smile flickered across Nico’s face. “Just a bit.”_

_Connor looked between Percy and Nico in confusion. “What’s the joke?”_

_“I was born before Harry Potter came out,” Nico said._

_“Yeah, the first movie came out in 2001,” Travis said in a ‘well duh’ voice. “You’re like fourteen.”_

_Clarisse raised an eyebrow. She looked at Annabeth. “Is that right?”_

_“Yeah,” Annabeth confirmed. “First movie was 2001, the first book was 1997.”_

_“Huh,” Clarisse said._

_“So Nico was born a year before the book,” Travis said. “So what?”_

_Nico managed a faint smile. By now, Will was struggling to keep a straight face. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper looked amused too._

_“What’s so funny?” Cecil asked._

“Nico…” Percy dissolved into laughter. “Nico’s not… he wasn’t born a year before the book!”

Kayla looked lost. “Seriously, I do not get it.”

“He was born the same year as the book?” Austin tried.

Percy’s laughter shook the bus.

“Shut up, Percy,” Nico grumbled. He blew out a breath. “I was born in, like, 1928, okay?”

Travis and Connor eyed Nico like he was about to grow a head and beard of grey hair and keel over.

“You what?” Cecil gapped.

“My father put me and… Bianca in the Lotus Hotel for a while,” Nico explained. “Time kinda passes differently.”

“Time travel!” Lou Ellen exclaimed. “Dude, that’s so cool.”

“I don’t recommend it,” Percy grumbled. “Annabeth, Grover, and I got stuck there during my first quest. We didn’t escape until the day of the solstice deadline.”

“Wait,” Nico frowned. “I knew you knew, but I didn’t know you guys were in there.”

“We were only there for what seemed like a few hours,” Annabeth shrugged. “Besides, you were just as engrossed in the games as we were.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ends a little abruptly, but I stopped writing there once I decided that I didn't want Nico to let everyone know about his time displacement.
> 
> Not sure if I've said this before, but since it never actually says in any book that the rest of Camp found out Nico was from the 1930s, I've decided that with Nico already feeling very different and unwanted, he probably wouldn't be very forthcoming with that information until he's ready. At this point of roughly mid-August after the giants war, he's feeling much more welcome at Camp and he's got friends in Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil, but it's unlikely that he'd be sharing this to Travis, Connor, Clarisse, or Chris yet.
> 
> Saving this reveal for another day.


	7. Nico and Will's Conversation 2.0 - Always Towards the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 54: Going Home.
> 
> An alternate version of the conversation Nico and Will have before getting on the bus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, please accept my apology for prolonging the wait... You'll see what I mean.

They got up early the next morning to eat breakfast and load up the buses with food for the ride home.

Everyone would be riding in the same buses as before much to Clarisse’s irritation. Luckily, they had finished all of Lou Ellen’s Harry Potter movies on the ride up.

“Will?” Nico called before they could get on the bus.

Will turned. “Yeah?”

Nico stuffed his hands in his pockets, something Will noticed Nico seemed to do a lot when he was nervous. “Can I talk to you?”

“Sure.” Will was kind of confused, but he shrugged it off and moved away from the buses.

It was a moment before Nico finally spoke.

“I talked to my sister,” Nico said abruptly.

Will knew this. Nico and Hazel had met up and talked the previous day before the War Games. Whatever they had talked about had put some tension between the two siblings, but they seemed to have resolved it for the most part if Hazel’s comment at the feast was anything to go by.

“I had some things to tell her,” Nico continued. “She had some things to tell me too. Did you know that when Frank first got here, everyone thought he was a loser. I mean, I’ll admit he wasn’t the best warrior I’ve seen.”

Will tilted his head. “Frank Zhang? Praetor of Camp Jupiter, one of the Seven of the prophecy? That Frank Zhang? Really?”

“Yeah,” Nico said with a small smile. “That’s the one. Anyway, no one really liked him very much. No one liked Hazel very much either. After Frank arrived at Camp, a lot of people teased them that they should get together because they were both unwanted here.” He looked angry.

Will frowned. “That’s such a horrible thing to say.”

“Hazel told me she decided that no matter how she felt about Frank, she would never date him because of what everyone was saying,” Nico said. “Then she told me how stupid it was that she was letting other people define her life. She said that she wished she hadn’t cared what they thought because it only made her unhappy.” He let out a breath. “I guess I could understand that. I… you know I ran away from Camp… a lot. That was because of what people thought, or because of what I thought people thought. To be honest, I’m kind of tired of running. It’s taken me a while, but I get that not everyone is going to like me. But I have… friends who do. I’m trying not to live in my past anymore. A lot of things have changed since then.”

Will got the feeling that Nico was talking about more than just his past few years of knowing he was a demigod.

“Plus, you know, Hazel’s whole speech kind of inspired me,” Nico mumbled. “So I figure I better say this now. You’ve been a really, really good friend, Will. I… it’s nice to have someone who… cares.”

Will grinned. “You’re going all mushy on me, di Angelo? What has the world come to?”

“Shut up, Solace,” Nico grumbled. “I’ll lose my nerve.” He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. “I… I really like you, Will. A lot.” He looked down at his feet, hair falling over his pink tinged face.

Will stared at Nico in surprise. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this.

“You… like me,” Will repeated. “You like me.”

Nico kicked at the ground. “That is what I said.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t that my line?” Nico asked.

“Your line?” Will asked.

“You know,” Nico said. “Why do you want a son of Hades hanging around the infirmary? or there’s Why don’t you care who my father is? That kind of stuff.”

Will snorted. “I just… I kinda felt like it was only a matter of time before you realized that you could be friends with way cooler demigods than me.”

“Do not make me use your own lines against you.”

“You’re a son of Hades,” Will protested. “You’re a child of the Big Three! You’re the cool one. I’m just a healer. My dad, wherever he is, is the god of music and archery too and I suck at both of them.”

“Our parents don’t define us,” Nico said. “That’s a quote from you.” He crossed his arms. “What about, I don’t care who your father is. I… I like you. Not Apollo.”

That was a disturbing thought.

“Okay,” Will said. “Okay, I get it.” He smiled at Nico. “I like you too.”

Nico’s head snapped up to look at Will. “You do?”

“Really.”

A slow smile spread across Nico’s face. He let out a relieved laugh.

“You know, according to my siblings, I’ve been really obvious,” Will said. “Also, confession: I only made you stay in the infirmary at first because I just wanted to hang out with you.”

Nico sputtered. “You what?”

“Turns out you really did need to stay,” Will grinned.

“You’re a dork,” Nico said, shaking his head. He glanced at the buses. “Now what?”

Will glanced back at the buses too. “Well, I guess we could keep talking and make everyone wait.”

“Haha,” Nico said sarcastically. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Then I guess we should get on the bus,” Will said. “I mean, Clarisse might kill us if we delay leaving. When we get back to Camp… we can figure us out.”

Nico’s cheeks were flushed red. “Okay.”

The flustered Nico was actually kind of adorable, Will admitted.

They climbed into the bus, Will going first.

“Finally,” Clarisse grumbled. “We’ve been waiting for you two.”

For a second, Will thought that they had been spying on his and Nico’s conversation.

“Yeah, we have a really long ride ahead of us,” Lou Ellen complained. “And we finished all my movies on the way here.”

“Praise the gods,” Clarisse muttered.

“Sorry,” Will said as he and Nico sat down in the same row they sat in on the way to Camp Jupiter. “But I can’t complain about the fact that those movies are done. You two are insane,” he told Lou Ellen and Nico.

“Can’t help it if Harry Potter is just so awesome,” Lou Ellen shrugged.

“I like Star Wars better,” Will said.

Lou Ellen eyed Nico suspiciously. “I don’t suppose you’ve seen Star Wars either?”

“I’ll show him them,” Will said quickly. He glanced at Nico. “I mean, if you want.”

Nico ducked his head. “Um, yeah. Sure.”

Will could see Jason’s eyes darting between them, brow furrowed like he was trying to put together a puzzle.

“So who’s ready for two days in the bus?” Will asked cheerfully.

.

When they pulled back up to Camp Half-Blood, it was nearly nine o’clock in the morning. Will was grateful that he had been able to get plenty of sleep on the bus ride because when the buses came to a stop, he was wide awake and ready for the day.

The side of Will’s face was red and streaked from the window he had woken up to find his face pressed against.

Nico seemed to find that amusing. He had snorted when Will turned to look over at him, revealing the side of his face.

All around them were the sounds of various people waking up.

“I told you you drool when you sleep!” Annabeth said.

“It wasn’t me!” Percy protested.

“Then why is my shoulder all wet?” she complained.

“Yeah, Percy,” Connor grinned. “Who was sleeping on Annabeth’s shoulder if it wasn’t you?”

“You people are disgusting,” Clarisse grumbled.

Jason’s head popped up over the back of the seat. His hair was disheveled from sleeping on the bus. “Good morning!” he said cheerfully. He looked a little disappointed though.

Cecil had no problems greeting Jason just as cheerfully. “Good morning.”

“We’ve talked the whole night through,” Lou Ellen sang.

Will peered over the back of the seat to look at her. “Too early, Lou.”

She ignored him. “Good mornin', good mornin'. It's great to stay up late. Good mornin', good mornin' to you.” She propped her head on her elbows looking over the seat. “Come on, Will. You should appreciate such a performance.”

“I liked it,” Kayla yawned.

Austin rubbed his eyes. “Yeah. It was great. If I had my saxophone, I would have given you the music.”

Clarisse let out a breath. “This is what I get for traveling with a bunch of theater kids.”

“Hey!” Lou Ellen, Kayla, and Austin protested.

They all piled out of the bus along with the rest of the campers in the other buses and made their way up Half-Blood Hill.

It was good to be back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look at that. Solangelo could have gotten together. But that didn't happen because I changed my mind. Also, I was reading this one Solangelo fic (I can't remember what it was called, but it was good) and I came to the realization that I would rather have cute little chapters of them not having a clue the other has feelings for them. Plus, you know, baby steps with Nico.
> 
> This chapter also has an alternate scene which will be in the next chapter.


	8. Last Chapter's Alternate - Always Towards the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This takes place during Chapter 54: Going Home.
> 
> An alternate version of Will and Nico getting on the bus after the alternate version of their conversation from last chapter.
> 
> Italics is the stuff from last chapter. Normal text is the new stuff.

_ They got up early the next morning to eat breakfast and load up the buses with food for the ride home. _

_ Everyone would be riding in the same buses as before much to Clarisse’s irritation. Luckily, they had finished all of Lou Ellen’s Harry Potter movies on the ride up. _

_ “Will?” Nico called before they could get on the bus. _

_ Will turned. “Yeah?” _

_ Nico stuffed his hands in his pockets, something Will noticed Nico seemed to do a lot when he was nervous. “Can I talk to you?” _

_ “Sure.” Will was kind of confused, but he shrugged it off and moved away from the buses. _

_ It was a moment before Nico finally spoke. _

_ “I talked to my sister,” Nico said abruptly. _

_ Will knew this. Nico and Hazel had met up and talked the previous day before the War Games. Whatever they had talked about had put some tension between the two siblings, but they seemed to have resolved it for the most part if Hazel’s comment at the feast was anything to go by. _

_ “I had some things to tell her,” Nico continued. “She had some things to tell me too. Did you know that when Frank first got here, everyone thought he was a loser. I mean, I’ll admit he wasn’t the best warrior I’ve seen.” _

_ Will tilted his head. “Frank Zhang? Praetor of Camp Jupiter, one of the Seven of the prophecy? That Frank Zhang? Really?” _

_ “Yeah,” Nico said with a small smile. “That’s the one. Anyway, no one really liked him very much. No one liked Hazel very much either. After Frank arrived at Camp, a lot of people teased them that they should get together because they were both unwanted here.” He looked angry. _

_ Will frowned. “That’s such a horrible thing to say.” _

_ “Hazel told me she decided that no matter how she felt about Frank, she would never date him because of what everyone was saying,” Nico said. “Then she told me how stupid it was that she was letting other people define her life. She said that she wished she hadn’t cared what they thought because it only made her unhappy.” He let out a breath. “I guess I could understand that. I… you know I ran away from Camp… a lot. That was because of what people thought, or because of what I thought people thought. To be honest, I’m kind of tired of running. It’s taken me a while, but I get that not everyone is going to like me. But I have… friends who do. I’m trying not to live in my past anymore. A lot of things have changed since then.” _

_ Will got the feeling that Nico was talking about more than just his past few years of knowing he was a demigod. _

_ “Plus, you know, Hazel’s whole speech kind of inspired me,” Nico mumbled. “So I figure I better say this now. You’ve been a really, really good friend, Will. I… it’s nice to have someone who… cares.” _

_ Will grinned. “You’re going all mushy on me, di Angelo? What has the world come to?” _

_ “Shut up, Solace,” Nico grumbled. “I’ll lose my nerve.” He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. “I… I really like you, Will. A lot.” He looked down at his feet, hair falling over his pink tinged face. _

_ Will stared at Nico in surprise. He didn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. _

_ “You… like me,” Will repeated. “You like me.” _

_ Nico kicked at the ground. “That is what I said.” _

_ “Why?” _

_ “Isn’t that my line?” Nico asked. _

_ “Your line?” Will asked. _

_ “You know,” Nico said. “Why do you want a son of Hades hanging around the infirmary? or there’s Why don’t you care who my father is? That kind of stuff.” _

_ Will snorted. “I just… I kinda felt like it was only a matter of time before you realized that you could be friends with way cooler demigods than me.” _

_ “Do not make me use your own lines against you.” _

_ “You’re a son of Hades,” Will protested. “You’re a child of the Big Three! You’re the cool one. I’m just a healer. My dad, wherever he is, is the god of music and archery too and I suck at both of them.” _

_ “Our parents don’t define us,” Nico said. “That’s a quote from you.” He crossed his arms. “What about, I don’t care who your father is. I… I like you. Not Apollo.” _

_ That was a disturbing thought. _

_ “Okay,” Will said. “Okay, I get it.” He smiled at Nico. “I like you too.” _

_ Nico’s head snapped up to look at Will. “You do?” _

_ “Really.” _

_ A slow smile spread across Nico’s face. He let out a relieved laugh. _

_ “You know, according to my siblings, I’ve been really obvious,” Will said. “Also, confession: I only made you stay in the infirmary at first because I just wanted to hang out with you.” _

_ Nico sputtered. “You what?” _

_ “Turns out you really did need to stay,” Will grinned. _

_ “You’re a dork,” Nico said, shaking his head. He glanced at the buses. “Now what?” _

_ Will glanced back at the buses too. “Well, I guess we could keep talking and make everyone wait.” _

_ “Haha,” Nico said sarcastically. “That’s not what I meant.” _

“Then I guess we should get on the bus,” Will said. “And if you want… we could hold hands?” he said, holding his hand open.

He didn’t really know if Nico would go for that. Nico didn’t really like being touched by anyone, even his friends. But… there were always the occasions where Will forgot and hugged Nico. If anyone else had tried that, they would probably have been given a one way ticket to the Underworld. But not Will. So maybe, just maybe, Nico didn’t mind contact if it was Will.

Nico hesitated, glancing at Will’s hand. Slowly, he removed one hand from his pocket. “Okay.” He slipped his hand into Will’s hand, cheeks flushing red.

The flustered Nico was actually kind of adorable, Will admitted.

They climbed into the bus, Will going first.

“Finally,” Clarisse grumbled. “We’ve been waiting for you two.”

For a second, Will thought that they had been spying on his and Nico’s conversation.

“Yeah, we have a really long ride ahead of us,” Lou Ellen complained. “And we finished all my movies on the way here.”

Nico’s fingers twitched like he wanted to let go. Will started to loosen his grip, but then Nico squeezed his hand.

Will glanced back to see a very determined look on Nico’s face. Well, determined despite the obvious fear and uncertainty.

“Are you going to sit down?” Clarisse snapped.

Will started. “Right. Yeah, we’re sitting.”

Nico climbed up the stairs after Will and the rest of the bus fell silent. Will could see the gears turning as their eyes saw his and Nico’s hands.

“I knew it!” Percy shouted.

Nico groaned. “Percy…”

Jason looked really excited. He handed Piper the box of his old stuff, got up, and squeezed Nico in a hug. “Dude!”

Nico shoved Jason off him. “Shut up, Grace.”

Jason smiled at Will. “If you hurt him, I will destroy you.” Then he sat back down.

Nico looked mortified. “Oh my gods,” he mumbled, face buried in his other hand.

_ “So who’s ready for two days in the bus?” Will asked cheerfully. _

_. _

_ When they pulled back up to Camp Half-Blood, it was nearly nine o’clock in the morning. Will was grateful that he had been able to get plenty of sleep on the bus ride because when the buses came to a stop, he was wide awake and ready for the day. _

_ The side of Will’s face was red and streaked from the window he had woken up to find his face pressed against. _

_ Nico seemed to find that amusing. He had snorted when Will turned to look over at him, revealing the side of his face. _

_ All around them were the sounds of various people waking up. _

_ “I told you you drool when you sleep!” Annabeth said. _

_ “It wasn’t me!” Percy protested. _

_ “Then why is my shoulder all wet?” she complained. _

_ “Yeah, Percy,” Connor grinned. “Who was sleeping on Annabeth’s shoulder if it wasn’t you?” _

_ “You people are disgusting,” Clarisse grumbled. _

_ Jason’s head popped up over the back of the seat. His hair was disheveled from sleeping on the bus. “Good morning!” he said cheerfully. He looked a little disappointed though. _

_ Cecil had no problems greeting Jason just as cheerfully. “Good morning.” _

_ “We’ve talked the whole night through,” Lou Ellen sang. _

_ Will peered over the back of the seat to look at her. “Too early, Lou.” _

_ She ignored him. “Good mornin', good mornin'. It's great to stay up late. Good mornin', good mornin' to you.” She propped her head on her elbows looking over the seat. “Come on, Will. You should appreciate such a performance.” _

_ “I liked it,” Kayla yawned. _

_ Austin rubbed his eyes. “Yeah. It was great. If I had my saxophone, I would have given you the music.” _

_ Clarisse let out a breath. “This is what I get for traveling with a bunch of theater kids.” _

_ “Hey!” Lou Ellen, Kayla, and Austin protested. _

_ They all piled out of the bus along with the rest of the campers in the other buses and made their way up Half-Blood Hill. _

_ It was good to be back. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. So I went through a lot of editing with this part of Always Towards the Sun. Even with the next chapter I'm going to be posting tomorrow, will have some edited scenes to add to this.


	9. What's So Great About the Great Prophecy? (Alex) - The Sum of Our Choices: The Last Olympian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is an alternate version of Chapter Three: What's So Great About the Great Prophecy (Percy).
> 
> In this scenario, Alex is the one whom this chapter is about. Chiron asks her to join the counselor meeting to discuss what happened on the Princess Andromeda. Nico is also in attendance at the counselor meeting.

AFTER THE EXPLOSION, Percy blacked out and started to sink.

Alex shifted back to human. “I’m going to shift into a turtle,” she shouted to Beckendorf over the waves. “I’ll get Percy and then swim us back to Camp!”

Alex dove underwater, changing shape as she swam. A hard shell appeared on her back and she used her new flippers to propel herself under Percy so he was resting on her shell.

Resurfacing was slow going in order to keep Percy on the shell, but since Percy could breathe underwater, Alex wasn’t concerned about his oxygen running out.

Finally, they broke the surface next to Beckendorf. Beckendorf slid off the hippocampus he was on and climbed onto Alex’s back. He held onto the shell with one hand and Percy with the other so Alex was free to speed through the waters.

In no time at all they were walking out of the water on the North Shore of Long Island. Beckendorf slung Percy over he shoulder and Alex morphed back human. She wrung the water out of her clothes with a grimace.

“Kind of jealous that Percy can keep himself dry,” she muttered.

Beckendorf shot her a faint smile.

A conch horn blew from the trees. Connor Stoll scrambled down from one of the trees and ran over to greet them.

“Alex!” he yelled. “Beckendorf! Whoa, what happened to Percy?”

“I think he used too much power trying to get us away from the ship,” Beckendorf said. “Do you have any nectar?”

Connor nodded. “Yeah, hold on.” He handed Beckendorf a small bottle. “Here.”

Beckendorf poured the nectar into Percy’s mouth. Percy coughed and sputtered. He blinked.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Alex said. “You passed out on us.”

Percy grinned weakly. “Not what I thought would happen. You two all good?”

“They’re great,” Connor said. “So am I, thanks for asking.” He frowned at Alex. “What were you doing with them? I thought just Percy and Beckendorf were going.”

Beckendorf’s face turned stoney. “We’ll talk about that later. At the counselor meeting.”

Connor nodded uneasily.

Together, they climbed the sand dunes. Alex and Connor helped support Percy until the nectar could finish helping him. A few hundred yards away, people were already streaming toward them, smiling and excited.

Connor and Alex helped Percy to sit at the Poseidon table in the dining pavilion as they waited for everyone to gather.

Chiron galloped into the pavilion first, which was easy for him since he's a white stallion from the waist down. His beard had grown wilder over the summer. He wore a green T-shirt that said MY OTHER CAR IS A CENTAUR and a bow slung over his back.

“Percy!” he said. “Beckendorf. Thank the gods.”

Annabeth and Magnus ran in right behind him.

“Where were you?” Magnus asked Alex.

Alex pointed to Percy and Beckendorf. “Making sure they didn’t get themselves killed.”

Annabeth breathed a sigh of relief. “Gods, Alex. We thought you were missing.”

“My bad,” Percy said, wincing under the twin looks from the Chase cousins. “I asked Alex to come and not tell anyone.”

Annabeth let out a breath. “Well, at least you’re all okay. What happened?”

“The ship’s blown up,” Beckendorf grunted.

Percy looked impassive. “Kronos isn’t destroyed though.”

“It’s still a major blow to his forces,” Chiron said. “You succeeded in weakening him.”

Silena Beauregard pushed through the crowd.

“Charlie!” she shouted, throwing her arms around Beckendorf.

Beckendorf hugged her back. “I’m okay.”

Chiron cleared his throat. “Perhaps we should continue this discussion at the Big House. Counselors!” he called. Then he looked at Alex. “You too, my dear. I’d like to hear all accounts about what happened.”

“Chiron,” Percy said.

The centaur looked at him.

“It’s time,” Percy said. “I… I need to know the prophecy.”

Chiron's shoulders sagged, but he didn't look surprised. "I've dreaded this day. Very well. Annabeth, we will show Percy the truth—all of it. Let's go to the attic." He looked at the counselors. “Wait for us in the rec room.”

* * *

Alex felt awkward sitting at the Ping-Pong table with the counselors. She was currently squished between the Stolls and Pollux from Dionysus cabin.

The meeting at the sword arena last summer had been one thing. They had met in an open area where anyone could wander into. This was different. This was a war council.

No one really paid Alex much attention since they were all too busy watching the argument between Michael and Clarisse which had been going on for some time now. Alex was hoping that by now it would have blown over, but Chiron had agreed with Michael that he had the best claim. It didn’t really make things any better. If anything, it made things worse.

Will had tried to intervene a few times over the last couple days, but he ended up getting caught in the crossfire and temporarily cursed to speak in rhyming couplets much to Alex’s amusement.

When Percy, Annabeth, and Chiron arrived, Percy stood in the doorway in shock and a little bit of anger.

Clarisse was in full battle gear yelling at Michael who was about a foot shorter than the daughter of Ares.

"It's our loot!" Michael yelled, standing on his tiptoes so he could get in Clarisse's face. "If you don't like it, you can kiss my quiver!"

Next to Alex, Connor stifled a laugh. Everyone around the table looked faintly amused except for Beckendorf.

“STOP IT!” Percy shouted. “Stop arguing!”

Clarisse glowered at him. “Tell Michael not to be a selfish jerk.”

“Oh, that’s perfect, coming from you,” Michael shot back.

“I said ENOUGH!” Percy yelled.

The room fell silent.

Percy crossed his arms. “You two have been arguing nonstop about a  _ stupid _ chariot. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re about a week away from the end of the world. My sixteenth birthday is coming up which means that the big fight against Kronos is  _ also _ coming up. If you two are busy worrying about who’s chariot it is, no one is going to be able to rely on you to do anything good to save the world.” He took a breath. “We have the Great Prophecy and if anyone is interested in hearing it, I’ll read it now.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Katie Gardner asked hesitantly, her eyes flashing in Alex’s direction. She bit her lip. “I only mean… we’ve been worried about a spy for a while and we’ve been trying to keep all the information between the head counselors only.”

“I’m not working for Kronos,” Alex said flatly.

Katie flushed. “Look, I’m sorry for how it sounded, but you have to admit… you haven’t been claimed by your parent and well…”

“Percy  _ asked _ me to come on this mission,” Alex said, crossing her arms. “And it was a good thing he did because if I wasn’t there, then whoever the spy is would have gotten Beckendorf killed!”

Silena gasped and covered her mouth. “What?”

Annabeth looked between Alex and Percy. “I’m actually pretty interested in knowing what happened.”

Percy nodded. “Right. So, I asked Alex to come along. Beckendorf didn’t even know until we left for the boat. I figured that whoever the spy is would have told Kronos about the two of us, but if they didn’t know about Alex, then that would give us an advantage.” He glanced at Alex. “After we got separated, I don’t really know much about what happened.”

“I met up with Beckendorf in the galley,” Alex explained. “He was filling his backpack with food to fool the monsters. After that… well, I kinda…”

Beckendorf grinned. “She pushed me off the side of the boat and took my backpack.”

Silena looked horrified. “You what?”

Alex waved her off. “Relax. Anyway, I turned myself into Beckendorf and tricked the monsters into thinking I was him. Percy got the message that I was really me and Beckendorf was in the water waiting for us. Percy and I escaped and Beckendorf blew the boat up.” Her expression hardened. “But there  _ is _ a spy. They knew we, or at least Percy and Beckendorf, were coming.”

“We’ll find them,” Annabeth said. She glanced at Chiron. “Chiron?”

“Yes,” Chiron nodded. “Percy? The prophecy please.”

Annabeth handed Percy a roll of parchment.

Percy unrolled it and began reading. “ _ A half-blood of the eldest gods / Shall reach sixteen against all odds _ ,” he said.

Suddenly the temperature of the room felt much colder than before. Alex wasn’t sure if it was the mood or if it was more to do with the prophecy being read.

“ _ And see the world in endless sleep _ ,” Percy continued. “ _ The hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap _ .”

Alex’s eyes snapped up to look at Percy. The son of Poseidon didn’t look overly bother by the fact that it sounded like he was going to die, but he didn’t look like he really liked that line either. Next to Percy, Annabeth blinked rapidly a few times.

“ _ A single choice shall end his days _ ,” Percy said. “ _ Olympus to preserve or raze _ .”

The room was silent. Finally, Connor said, “Raise is good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, except this is raze as in destroy,” Percy corrected.

Everyone looked at Percy like he was already dead.

Chiron closed his eyes as if he were saying a prayer. "You see now, Percy, why we thought it best not to tell you the whole prophecy. You've had enough on your shoulders—"

“I appreciate it,” Percy interrupted. “But I’m not dead yet, so can you all stop acting like I am?”

“The cursed blade,” Clarisse said. “That sounds like the scythe. So can’t we just find it and destroy it?”

“I wish it was that easy,” Nico said, speaking up for the first time. His eyes trained on Percy. “I’ve run into a lot of spirits who tried to cheat prophecies in their lifetimes. It doesn’t end well for them. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades made an oath not to have any kids to try and avoid the prophecy. Look how well that turned out for them.”

Percy nodded. “Nico’s right. Besides, it doesn’t matter what we do. Kronos is planning to destroy Olympus.”

“We already know that,” Pollux said. “That’s the whole point of this war.”

“No, I mean, he was on that boat to New York for a reason,” Percy said. “The gods are all busy with Typhon. Nobody's guarding Olympus. While I was unconscious, I had a dream. Hyperion is coming east to get ready.”

“What about the spy?” Michael scowled. “We don’t know who it is.”

“Someone who knew Luke well,” Connor said.

Pollux frowned. “We shouldn’t accuse each other. That’s what Kronos would want us to do. We have to trust everyone here if we want to beat him.”

“We need to find this spy before we plan something else,” Michael argued. “This spy almost cost us Percy, Beckendorf, and Alex.”

Silena had silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Kronos is always going to be one step ahead of us if we don’t find this spy now,” Michael continued.

“Not anymore,” Silena said. She tossed something onto the table.

Silver glinted up at them. It was a scythe charm on a silver chain.

Clarisse stared at Silena in shock. “You… Silena?”

Silena looked away. “He told me I would save lives. I… I just didn’t want anyone getting hurt. I tried to back out, I swear, but he said he would tell everyone.” She took a shaky breath. “But you could have died,” she said to Beckendorf, “and it would have been  _ my _ fault. Charlie, I’m so,  _ so _ sorry.”

Beckendorf didn’t say anything for a while. Finally, he handed Silena a hammer.

Silena took the hammer gingerly. She stared at the silver charm for a moment. Then, she swung the hammer. The charm cracked in half and there was a small dent in the table.

There was silence.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Alex finally said. She looked at Silena. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“You could have died,” Silena said quietly. “I told them you were coming.”

“Great,” Alex shrugged. “Okay. Luke tricked me into taking the sky so that he and Atlas could trick Artemis into taking it for me. Which means that Luke used me to trap a goddess the same way he used you to stay one step ahead. Look, I’m trying to say that no matter what you did, you shouldn’t blame yourself. You wanted to save lives, but when you realized that Luke or Kronos or whatever wasn’t interested in that, you tried to back out. I think that instead of focusing on ‘oh my gods, Silena’s the spy’ we should be asking, is there anyone else and do you know who?”

Silena shook her head. “Just me. And before you ask, no, I don’t know what he was planning. It wasn’t like that. I just provided the information. He didn’t tell me anything.”

Alex leaned back. “Perfect. Now what?”

Percy looked at Chiron. “How long until Typhon reaches New York?”

Chiron sighed. “Unless the gods can stop him? Five days. As you know, most of the Olympians are fighting him.”

“Except my dad,” Percy sighed.

“And Demeter,” Nico added.

Katie shot him a look. “What?”

“My father is currently waiting out the war in the Underworld,” Nico explained. “Persephone’s with him and since  _ technically _ she’s supposed to be with Demeter this month, Demeter has invited herself to the Underworld.”

“So ten of the twelve are fighting Typhon,” Travis said. “Great.”

Percy and Annabeth exchanged looks.

“I have an idea about what Kronos is planning, but I need a while to think about it,” Percy finally said.

“Tomorrow we’ll meet again,” Chiron said. “I think this is enough for one night.”

And the war council adjourned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote this, I don't know what I was thinking in terms of planning out the story. At this time, my plan was to have a chapter order that went: Will, Percy, Percy, Alex, Percy, Percy, Nico, Percy, Percy, Annabeth, Percy, Percy, Magnus, Percy, Percy. Instead, I started writing the Alex chapter instead of the Percy chapter. I'm glad I did, if just for the first scene with her and Beckendorf and the unconscious Percy.


	10. Mom Bless You (Percy) - The Sum of Our Choices: The Last Olympian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a deleted scene from Chapter Six: Mom Bless You (Percy).
> 
> Rather than just sending Mrs. O'Leary back to Camp, Percy and Nico actually walk her there.

_ “Should we tell Annabeth where we’re going?” Nico asked Percy. _

_ Percy cast a look back in the direction of Camp. “No. I’ll call her after, but… I don’t want her to try and talk me out of this. Hey,” he said suddenly. “I’m not some new lead on your family, am I?” _

_ Nico gave him a dry look. “What do you take me for? I mean, I know all I need to know. But no promises that dad won’t try to capture you or something.” _

_ “You’ll bust me out, right?” _

_ Nico sent him a crooked smile, but said nothing. _

_ “Nico?” _

_ “I’ll bust you out,” Nico said dully. He glanced around for Mrs. O’Leary. “First stop. Your mom’s place.” He whistled, and Mrs. O'Leary came loping out of the woods. “Shadow travel time.” _

_ “Does Will know about this?” Percy asked hesitantly. “Or are you hitching a ride with Mrs. O’Leary?” _

Nico looked offended. “First of all,  _ I’m _ shadow traveling you. Mrs. O’Leary is going back to Camp. Second, Will does not get to decide when I can or cannot shadow travel.” He patted Mrs. O’Leary on the head. “Now, let’s get her back to Camp before anyone asks us what we’re doing.”

* * *

Returning a giant black dog to the sword fighting arena unnoticed proved to be more difficult than Percy expected. Especially considering it was dark out and that should have helped.

“You do know the cleaning harpies will eat you regardless of whether or not you’re the best chance we have to defeat the Titans, right?” a voice called.

“Alex?” Nico asked.

The boy in question was perched in the stands of the arena. He waved at them.

“They could eat you too,” Percy pointed out.

Alex shrugged. “Eh, I think they’ll find you much more appetizing. Plus, I’m a shapeshifter. No offense, but harpies aren’t exactly known for their smarts. Think I’ll be safe. What are you guys doing up so late? And when did you get back, Nico?” he asked.

“A while ago,” Nico said evasively. “And we were talking about the war.”

“What about it?” Alex asked, completely serious. He slid out of his seat and moved towards them. “What’s going on?”

Percy couldn’t meet Alex’s eyes. “Nico and I have a plan that might save lives,” he answered, staring at Alex’s mismatched green and pink shoes.

“Dangerous plan?”

“A little,” Percy admitted.

Alex let out a breath. “Figured. You’re leaving?”

“Tomorrow is August 15th,” Percy said, ignoring the question. “Three days until my birthday. I have to do everything I can to make sure no one dies needlessly.”

Alex waved a hand. “Go. I get it. What should I tell Annabeth in the morning?”

“Nothing,” Percy said. “She knows what I’m doing. If everything goes well… I’ll call her.” He placed a hand on Nico’s shoulder.

“Wait, but you don’t have a phone,” Alex said in confusion as Nico pulled Percy into the shadows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, I probably could have put this in as the actual story, but... I don't know. I don't really have an excuse why I didn't just leave it in. Maybe it was chapter length? I tried to keep all my chapters roughly the same length about 4-6 pages each, so maybe I was having issues with that? I don't really remember and that sounds like a lame excuse.
> 
> Now I'm going to wake up in the middle of the night and wonder why I took this out. But it's fine. Whatever. Hope you enjoyed this!


	11. I Wish the Serious Conversation Happened in the Closet (Nico V) - The Sum of Our Choices: The House of Hades Chapter Five (alternate/crackfic)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the crackfic chapter I wrote at two/three in the morning because I love to stay up late and write even when I'm laughing my head off.
> 
> Anyway, it's an alternate version of The Sum of Our Choices: The House of Hades Chapter Five: Piper is Really Good at Figuring Things Out (Nico V). Basically, this is the same conversation only this time Nico mentions that Will also time traveled and, oh yeah, did he mention that he and Will were dating in the future?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I... apologize. For whatever reason, I found this conversation the peak of hilarity. Of course, this was early in the morning and I can guarantee you I probably went to sleep late the night before, so what do you expect from a sleep deprived writer?
> 
> Um... there's some puns, so... if you have a thing against puns... you should probably just ignore this.

NICO FIGURED IF THERE WAS A TIME AS GOOD AS ANY, it would be as they crossed the Apennines. Before the Kerkopes could distract them.

When they changed the rotation of who protected the ship was the best time. Sure it was late at night, and sure, he had to wake Magnus and Alex, but he needed them for this.

“Before we keep going, there’s something we have to talk about,” Nico started.

Piper raised her eyebrows. “What? Something about…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but Nico knew what she was talking about. Tartarus.

“Percy told me about the flashes you and Leo have had,” Nico said to her. “And the dreams Jason’s been having.”

Jason looked uncomfortable. “So what? All demigods have weird dreams.”

“Do all demigods have dreams that end up affecting them in the middle of a battle?” Nico demanded. “It’s just like Hazel’s flashbacks. Thank the gods she doesn’t have that anymore.”

Hazel pursed her lips. “Nico’s right. My blackouts could have gotten me killed if I had one in battle. But these visions… well, they’re just dreams, aren’t they?”

“If it was just a dream, Jason wouldn’t have been speared by the giant,” Nico said sharply.

Jason frowned. “What does my dream have to do with—”

“ _ You should have sent the spear flying away with your wind power, _ ” Nico said. “Instead, you froze and you almost died.”

“I don’t follow,” Jason admitted.

“Neither do I,” Frank said.

Leo frowned. “Uh, Jason, didn’t you say your dreams ended with you dying by a spear through the back?”

Jason flinched. He reached up and touched his sternum where the point of the spear that would one day kill him would go through. “Yeah, but—”

“But it almost got you killed,” Nico interrupted. “Percy told me… he told me that I needed to make sure that wouldn’t happen again.”

Hazel looked at him. “Before… before he fell? I didn’t hear that.”

“No,” Alex said, speaking up for the first time. She had her arms crossed and was leaning back in her chair. “Before we broke through the ground. When Percy and Nico had their chat.”

“Percy thought you could help with the visions then?” Piper asked hopefully. “Is that some power of Hades?”

Nico hesitated, then he shook his head. “No. It’s… well, I don’t understand  _ why  _ it’s happening, but I know what probably caused it.”

“What?” Jason asked. “It’s starting to drive me mad. Everytime I have these dreams, I… Look, it sounds crazy, but I  _ know _ I’ve experienced those memories. I can’t explain it. I just… I know.”

“I know,” Nico said grimly. “Percy asked me to wait until after for me to share this with you.”

The  _ Argo II _ was silent except for the machinery on the ship.

“Wait until after?” Frank repeated.

Piper gave Nico a suspicious look. “You say that like you and Percy  _ knew _ he and Annabeth were going to fall.”

Nico swallowed. “I did. Percy and Annabeth too.”

“And us,” Magnus mumbled. “Alex and I knew.”

“You  _ knew _ ?” Piper shouted. “What do you mean  _ you knew _ about this? You  _ let them _ fall? How could you? Magnus, she’s your  _ cousin _ and you let her—” she cut off. “Did you say Percy and Annabeth knew too?”

Nico nodded. “We all knew. Annabeth… she made certain plans for… for getting through Tartarus and getting out. That’s what she was doing the past year.”

“Nico,” Hazel said calmly, “how could you know? Did you have a prophecy?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Nico said, heart racing at a hundred miles an hour. “About three years ago, Bianca and I were brought to Camp Half-Blood with the Hunters of Artemis, Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, Grover, and Magnus. But about seven years ago for me, Bianca and I were brought to Camp Half-Blood with the Hunters of Artemis, Percy, Thalia, and Grover.”

Leo tilted his head. “I’m not following. You and your sister went to Camp Half-Blood twice?”

“Oh. My. Gods,” Piper said, jaw dropping. “You cannot be serious.”

“Percy, Annabeth, Magnus, Alex, and I are all from the future,” Nico finally got out. “Roughly a year from now to be exact.”

* * *

If Nico was expecting a fanfare or celebration, he would have been disappointed. None of that happened. He was, however, expecting shouts of disbelief and anger. That didn’t happen either. Instead, everyone sat in shocked silence.

Finally, Hazel broke the silence. “You’ve known what was going to happen this whole time?” she asked. “So… when you came to get me from the Underworld, was that just something you felt like you had to do? Should… should I even be alive?”

“Don’t say that!” Frank said fiercely.

Hazel’s acquisition hit Nico like a knife through the heart.

“Of course I meant to bring you back!” Nico said. “Hazel… you’re my sister. I… in… in the other timeline, you started out as… well, I wanted to bring back Bianca, but I found you and… I was an awful brother. Then I got to know you and… you are my  _ sister. _ I love you for you and I was not going to let this… this whatever get in the way of us. Even if Bianca had been there for me to bring back this time, I would have gone and found you too. I told you not to ever think of yourself as a consolation prize and that’s true. You are a real person, you are my sister, and you are worth it.” He had stood up sometime during his speech, so he sat down, face warm from embarrassment at the amount of emotion.

Hazel blinked back tears. “Nico—”

“I told you I love you,” Nico said. “I mean it.”

“If you’re from the future, you must have known about the Giant war,” Piper said. “Why didn’t you stop it?”

“We are,” Magnus said. “That’s why we’re on this quest, right?”

“I mean, why didn’t you stop it before we had to go on this quest?” Piper explained. “Why do we have to fight Gaea and the giants if you know how to stop her.” A horrified look took over Piper’s face. “Unless you didn’t stop her before and that’s why you came back. Oh my gods, we failed, didn’t we? Gaea won?”

“No!” Nico sighed. “Gaea did not win. And if we could have stopped this, we would have, but that’s not what the prophecy says:

_ “Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. _

_ To storm or fire, the world must fall. _

_ Delivered for wisdom on Rome’s wings, _

_ Ones prepared with knowledge of all things. _

_ An oath to keep with a final breath, _

_ And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death. _

“It doesn’t say  _ The time travelers will defeat Gaea easily, _ ” Nico finished. He looked at Jason. “The dreams you’ve been having are glimpses of the future. Well, the future we come from anyway. I don’t know why you’re having them, but that’s what they are.”

Jason swallowed. “So… the boat. I was speared by a guy on a horse. That happened? Who was the other guy? The guy that stabbed me? And who was the boy I shouted to. I told him to remember something.”

Nico flinched. “Caligula. He’s the one who… he’s the one who killed you.”

“I… I’m dead?” Jason said quietly.

“I’m so sorry,” Nico whispered. “I’m so, so sorry.”

Jason shook his head. “It’s fine. It had to happen one day. Caligula? Like… like the emperor? I thought he was dead. Did he come back through the Doors?”

“He never died,” Nico said. “It’s complicated. The boy you called to was Lester Papadopoulos. You wanted him to remember what it was like to be a mortal when he returned to Olympus.”

“What?”

“Lester is the mortal form of Apollo,” Nico explained. “Zeus punished him a few months after the end of the war. He kept his promise,” he added. “Your death… Apollo didn’t take it very well. I didn’t either. Piper and Leo… I don’t think they planned on returning to Camp ever. You two were both okay. Piper, you were living in Oklahoma with our dad and, Leo, you and—you’re living with some friends in Indiana.”

Piper and Leo looked like they were both still trying to process Jason’s apparent death.

“What about us?” Frank asked. “Hazel and I? Are we okay?”

Nico let himself smile. “Yeah. You’re both at Camp Jupiter. You both are kind of leaders there. Well, uh, obviously. You’re part of the Seven. But you’re doing good.” He paused. “And Percy and Annabeth were doing just fine getting ready to start at New Rome University.”

Leo’s face twisted. “Which I messed up by firing on them.”

“You fired on them last time,” Nico said. “Things worked out. The Athena Parthenos united the camps.”

“You LET ME FIRE ON NEW ROME?” Leo shouted.

“Hey!” Magnus snapped. “Annabeth tried to prevent it. Don’t you remember how she insisted on everyone staying  _ off _ the  _ Argo II _ until it was time to leave?”

“She could have done something to ward off the eidolons!”

“What was she supposed to do? Tell Piper to charmspeak invisible ghosts because she knows they’re possessing people, but she can’t tell Piper how she knows that?”

“What’s done is done,” Hazel said, interrupting them. “The important part is that we can still salvage Greek and Roman relations.”

“Uh, Maggie and I just got done preventing a world ending event on the Norse side of things when we came back in time,” Alex added, changing the subject. “Ragnarok’s delayed for a while. Yay.”

Hazel blinked. “Um. What about you, Nico?”

Nico scowled at the table. “Will Solace and I just got done with helping Apollo finish his quest. We were supposed to go on another quest, but… this happened. And I—” he crossed his arms. “Whatever. I’m fine.”

Alex snorted. “Trouble in paradise?”

Nico felt his face heating up. “Shut up, Alex. I already have to fix this when we get back to Camp, and you’re not helping.”

Hazel narrowed her eyes. “Are you dating someone?”

“No!” Nico sputtered. “No, I’m not. I… I was, but time travel… it doesn’t matter.”

Hazel gave him a look like it did matter. “Lou Ellen? You mentioned her earlier.”

“No!” Nico choked. “Definitely not.”

“Come on,” Hazel complained. “I wanna know who captured my brother’s heart.”

Nico wished he could just melt into the shadows right then and there. “We are not here to talk about my love life. This was supposed to be a serious conversation about how Magnus, Alex, and I are from the future and everything with Percy and Annabeth is going to be fine.”

“Yeah, and then I found out that you were in love in said future,” Hazel said. “You can’t expect me not to want to know who.”

Piper leaned forward. “Yeah, Nico. By any chance, is it a cute Apollo kid?”

“Oh my gods,” Nico muttered. “Unbelievable.”

“Soap opera,” Alex sighed.

Everyone seemed to be boring holes into Nico with their eyes. He didn’t really like the sudden interest in his life.

“You know who my boyfriend is,” Hazel said. “Shouldn’t I get to know who your—”

“Will Solace,” Nico blurted. “Will and I were… we… he was my boyfriend.”

Magnus blinked. “Blunt. And you caved quicker than I thought.”

“He also time traveled, we just never got back together in this time,” Nico rambled. “Mostly because we had to figure things out after what happened last in our time and now I’ve messed up by going to Tartarus again and—” he cut himself off.

“Boyfriend,” Hazel repeated. She was very still.

“I told you things changed since we were born,” Nico said tightly.

“I know,” Hazel said quietly. “I know. I didn’t expect… you just surprised me.”

Frank squeezed her hand. “That was kinda blunt, but it’s cool, Nico. Honestly, I… well, the Greeks weren’t exactly the straightest people. I figured the Greek demigods were pretty diverse.”

Piper tilted her head. “I mean, you aren’t wrong. Aphrodite cabin alone pretty much covers the whole spectrum. We  _ are _ children of the goddess of love, so… Gay, lesbian, bi, pan, aro, ace. Literally, I’m pretty sure there’s at least one of each. I would be bi,  _ by _ the way,” she added, attempting to lighten the mood.

Alex started laughing. “That was so bad. That was worse than Magnus.  _ I have a hard time thinking straight when it comes to you _ ,” she mimicked.

Magnus turned red. “Hey!” he complained.

“Sorry, did that not  _ pan _ out the way you thought it would?” Alex teased.

“And you thought  _ I _ was being corny?”

Nico stared around the table in complete confusion. Somehow, his serious, well thought out talk about being from the future had turned into  _ puns. _ Really bad, really corny puns.

Hazel at least seemed mollified by the ease at which her friends were talking about sexualities and Nico’s revelation.

“Can we actually focus on the fact that I was trying to tell you guys something serious and now you’re all making stupid puns?” Nico tried.

“They’re  _ ace _ -ing it,” Frank grinned.

“Please excuse me while I jump off the  _ Argo II _ ,” Nico muttered.

Jason gave Nico an awkward smile. “I think we all need a laugh right now.”

“I need my sanity,” Nico said dryly.

“We’ll talk about this more later,” Jason told him. “I have a feeling this is something we can’t cover in a single day. You should get some rest. You haven’t completely recovered from Rome yet.”

Nico rolled his eyes. Then he yawned. “Alright. Fine.”

He got up and headed for his cabin leaving the rest of the demigods laughing their heads off over a bunch of puns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm almost ninety percent sure this was inspired by this post with Nico, Piper, Percy, Jason, and Annabeth -->
> 
> Nico: When straight people assume I'm one of them I feel like a gay secret agent  
> Piper: lesbionage  
> Percy: bi spy  
> Jason: it's an ace case  
> Annabeth: secret gaygent
> 
> Which... is that from something?
> 
> Anyway... so there's that... Hope you... enjoyed?


End file.
